Indian Sub-continent

New Delhi, Sep 5 (PTI) Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina arrived here on Monday on a four-day trip to expand overall ties between the two countries.

Hasina will hold wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday following which the two sides are likely to unveil a raft of measures to boost cooperation in areas of defence, trade and river-water sharing.

The Bangladesh PM was received at the airport by Union minister Darshana Jardosh.

Ranchi, Sept 5 (PTI) The Jharkhand Assembly on Monday passed the confidence motion tabled by Chief Minister Hemant Soren amid a walkout staged by BJP legislators.

As many as 48 MLAs voted in favour of the confidence motion in the 81-member Assembly.

Speaking during the one-day special session, Soren said the need for trust vote was felt as BJP was "attempting to destabilise democratically elected governments" in non-BJP ruled states, including Jharkhand.

New Delhi, Sep 2 (PTI) The Congress on Friday alleged that India's growth story is being pushed back due to the Centre's "inept" handling of the economy and said its efforts are only directed towards "reset" of governments led by Opposition parties instead of chalking out a roadmap for the "reset of the economy".

The Opposition party also asked whether the government will now go back on its promises of doubling farmers' income by 2022 and making the country a USD 5 trillion economy.

New Delhi, Sep 4 (PTI) Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is contemplating running for the post of party president, on Sunday hailed Rahul Gandhi's "strong speech" at the party's 'Mehengai Par Halla Bol' rally here and noted that huge crowds thronged the Ramlila Maidan for it.

COLOMBO, Sept 3 (NNN-XINHUA) – Sri Lanka’s parliament, yesterday passed an interim budget with 120 votes for, five votes against and 43 abstentions.

The members of parliament (MPs), who abstained from voting, included those from the main opposition party, Samagi Jana Balawegaya, and a group of MPs, who have broken away from the ruling party, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).

The interim budget was presented to Parliament on Aug 30, by President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

NEW DELHI, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- At least 17 people were killed due to lightning in India's eastern state of Bihar, the state-run broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) said Saturday.

Heavy rains and thunderstorms accompanied by lightning strikes lashed the state during the past 24 hours, affecting six districts.

Officials said most of the victims were farmers working in the fields when the lightning struck.

HERAT, Afghanistan, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- A total of 18 people have been confirmed dead and 23 others were injured as a blast ripped through a mosque in Herat city, capital of Afghanistan's western Herat province on Friday, a local official said.

"A total of 18 persons including prominent cleric Mawlawi Mujib Rahman Ansari and his brother Habib Rahman Ansari were killed and 23 others injured in a blast outside the Gazar Gah mosque in Herat city today," the provincial administration spokesman Mawlawi Hamidullah Matawakil told reporters.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan appealed Saturday to the international community for an “immense humanitarian response” to unprecedented flooding that has left at least 1,265 people dead. The request came even as planes carried supplies to the impoverished country across a humanitarian air bridge.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s former president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country in July after tens of thousands of protesters stormed his home and office in a display of anger over the country’s economic crisis, has returned to the country after seven weeks.

NEW DELHI, Sept 2 (NNN-PTI) – India’s daily COVID-19 caseload, today decreased to 6,168, officials said.

According to federal health ministry data, released this morning, the new cases were reported during the past 24 hours, taking the total tally to 44,442,507 in the country.

The cases reported today marked a fall from the daily caseload of 7,946 yesterday.

With the fresh cases, India’s active caseload currently stands at 59,210.